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This made me laugh, made me smile and brought a tear to my eye. I want to hug some of these people.

What’s yours?

I saw the One Less Drop product showcased in my RSS feed from DesignSpotter, and loved it immediately (yup, I’ve joined the pre-order list!

What I liked even more was the video that the designer made about the design evolution of the product:

This made me laugh out loud – especially the odd question and answer at the very end.

Please don’t watch this if you are offended by cursing or by people ranting against bankers!

Irishman rants about Irish bankers (YouTube)

It’s funny because it’s true.

I bookmark a lot of pages and sites which I find interesting, inspirational and informative every day! I’d like to share some of them with you here. In general they are about user experience, usability, UCD, accessbility and design. In general, but not always!!

• YouTube Blog: Should quality matter in web video?
  Since I started working in web video, the most common misconception I face is, web video equals low quality video. This week we asked “What do you think the differences are between making videos for the web versus other venues like film festivals or TV?” on YouTube's Facebook fan page. Though there were a lot of positive voices talking about the immediacy, democracy and audience engagement of web video, some of the comments unsurprisingly echoed this idea.
• Photos as Web Content (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox)
  Users pay close attention to photos and other images that contain relevant information but ignore fluffy pictures used to "jazz up" Web pages.
• Ideal line length for content
  I’d like to design a site that uses optimal line lengths. I also want the line length to stay within the optimal range no matter what default font size the user has set in their browser. Is it possible?
• UXMovement: Applying the Golden Ratio to Web Layouts and Objects | Usability Counts | User Experience, Social Media
  1.618 is a number all serious designers should know. It’s known as the golden ratio found through out nature, art and architecture. Seashells, the Mona Lisa and the Parthenon all show the golden ratio. Our faces and bodies are also proportional to the golden ratio. It’s so omnipresent that it’s even found in sounds and intervals of time. If there ever was a mathematical way to explain and express natural beauty, the golden ratio is it.
• 4 lessons The Apprentice candidates should learn about focus groups–Making Websites Easy To Use
  Every year I watch The Apprentice I grumble to my partner about the appalling way the candidates grill focus group participants. Their approach is to either present them with an idea and ask if they like it, or they tell them about the concept, ask for thoughts and then argue the participants into submission. When this doesn’t work and the focus group clearly dislikes the concept they just ignore it and carry on regardless.

Please do feel free to suggest other related (and unrelated ones)!

I bookmark a lot of pages and sites which I find interesting, inspirational and informative every day! I’d like to share some of them with you here. In general they are about user experience, usability, UCD, accessbility and design. In general, but not always!!

• 54% of H.264 Web Video Now Available in HTML5 – Mac Rumors
  Media search site MeFeedia today released the results of a new survey showing that 54% of H.264-encoded video on the Internet is currently available in HTML5 format, double the share of just five months ago. The rapid increase has been driven by the explosion in the mobile industry, led in part by Apple's iPhone and its lack of support for Adobe's Flash platform.
• Customer Service: A Culture, Not a Department
  As the iconic Nordstrom Inc prepares to open its newest store in Cincinnati’s Kenwood Towne Center It seemed logical to reflect on the essence of what makes great customer service.
• HOW TO: Build an App for Your Small Business
  So, you’re a small or medium-sized business, and you want to build a Facebook, mobile or web app. You’re undertaking something that’s both simple and ambitious, and you’re probably looking for a bit of help.
• Wireframes Magazine » Site Architecture Stencil for OmniGraffle
  Austin recently came up with a sitemap or site architecture OmniGraffle stencil that makes room for some extra description. In the stencil, beside each page title there is now a little space for an explanation of what the page is about. He shared the downloadable stencil which can be obtained right from his site. Awesome. Thanks!
• Persuasive purchase behaviour – Understanding the power of the Goldilocks Effect
  Persuading people to commit to a transaction online can be achieved by applying any number of psychological techniques. And although the term ‘persuasion’ may, at times, been seen to have certain negative connotations there are plenty of ways in which we can encourage behaviour through a well designed interface without resorting to deception or the use of ‘dark patterns’.

Please do feel free to suggest other related (and unrelated ones)!